Joby Aviation seeks Additive Manufacturing Operator for LPBF production at Marina facility

Joby Aviation is hiring an Additive Manufacturing Operator for its Marina, California facility, a role focused on running Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) printers, powder processing equipment, and post-processing tools. The position, posted on June 19, 2026, involves full manufacturing cycle work from printing through depowdering and post-processing, with a target base pay of $28-$37 per hour plus restricted stock units. The company, which has been developing its piloted electric air taxi since 2009 and is now in FAA certification's final stages, is scaling manufacturing ahead of planned commercial service launches in the US and Dubai.

This hiring signals that Joby is moving beyond prototype-stage AM use into production-grade operations, embedding LPBF as a core manufacturing process rather than a development tool. The role's emphasis on SOP adherence, MES data entry, and shift-based production flow mirrors the discipline required in aerospace serial production, not just R&D labs. Joby joins a small but growing cohort of eVTOL and aerospace OEMs that are internalizing metal AM capability to control supply chains for complex, lightweight structural components. The compensation package, including RSUs and an ESPP, reflects the company's effort to attract manufacturing talent in a competitive California labor market where AM operators with aerospace experience remain scarce.

For the AM industry, this is a concrete data point on how aerospace qualification grind translates into real hiring patterns. Joby must now demonstrate that its Marina facility can achieve the repeatability and throughput that LPBF promises but few aerospace programs have delivered at scale. The operator role is the front line of that execution risk - the company needs people who can turn machine uptime into certified parts, not just impressive demo builds.